


Brothers In Blood

by Hatedartista13



Category: Ed Edd n Eddy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 17:42:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2701655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hatedartista13/pseuds/Hatedartista13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU in which the Eds are vampires.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brothers In Blood

Deep in the woods on a starless night a grizzly man leads his horse and cart down a barely visible path. Few are foolish enough to take this path despite how much faster one can reach the other side, and with good reason. These woods are full of wolves and bears that do not fear man and will attack travelers who lose their way. Which is why the old man prefers leading the horse on foot, he finds he can make out the faint edges of the path better. What few know is that if one can find the path they won’t have any difficulties reaching the other side, as long as they never stray from it. In this part of the woods there is only one thing he fears, the soulless pair of monsters that have been following him ever since he turned from the main road, patiently waiting for someone to wander into their domain. His passengers frantically scanning the darkness for movement are blissfully unaware of this; he intends to keep it that way lest he be implored to turn back. They’ve paid a nice sum to pass in a single night safely; turning back would mean losing money so he chose not to enlighten them.  
Somewhere in the distance there’s the sound of something large crashing through the woods, a sign that two had become three. Unfortunately this complicated things a bit as the third monster had yet to learn the restraint that kept the others from attacking travelers who stayed on the path. Shaking his head as one of the women shrieked the man thanked his lucky stars he’d planned ahead. Day trips were uneventful this way through, still the man refused to allow anyone to stray from the trail, night trips sometimes required a bribe of sorts. Ever since the third one had nearly killed him the man always found a traveler with no relations to bring on night runs, better one poor bastard no one would miss than the lot of them. Touching the scar that disfigured his face the old man relived that night, eight people dead, himself barely alive, and his horse gone. He’d avoided any repercussions for the deaths of his passengers by blaming the attack on a bear though he doubted he could do the same again. This third monster wasn’t always with the others but better safe than sorry.  
Stopping the horse, he ignored the panicked questions from the cart as he lit a lantern with red glass. The red glow kept the creature from rushing his cart long enough for him to reach the spot where he’d send the victim to his death. Quick to quiet the frightened people, the man held the lantern out. More crashing, much closer now, sent them into a panic. Screams, yells, and curses filled the air as they all insisted on taking the long way instead, offering to pay more when he refused. It was too late to turn back now, all that would do was get them all killed. More than once he’d found the remains of one of the few others who led groups through this patch of woods, a cart wheel, some personal belongings, a toy, never any bodies or blood.  
A scrawny teenager jumped out of the cart to confront the old man, forcing him to stop.  
“Get back in lad, we’re nearly there.”  
“There’s something out there! Take us the long way ‘round!”  
“Can’t now, hear that crashin’? Got to keep going or else there’ll be trouble. Ain’t got nothin’ to worry ‘bout, none of ye.” _Except the young preacher trying to calm the others._ A bit of coaxing convinced them to let him go on, they thought he might have a way to keep the beasts at bay.  
He could see them now, just beyond the shadows keeping pace with him. The largest of them ran ahead, then back to the others, and repeated the process, clearly excited for what was to come. A much smaller figure finally tripped the larger one so that it was now leading, the larger one followed obediently. Bringing up the rear was a third, not much shorter than the first but lacking the girth that made the largest of the trio so intimidating. That one had made the deal with the old man, hear the third coming close and light his lantern, go to the designated spot, and leave one of his passengers to save the rest. It had kept to the shadows during the conversation, all the same it seemed reasonable enough for what it was.  
Finally they arrived at the spot, a bare patch of earth several feet from the path with an iron post with a hook to hang a lantern from. This was the place.  
So why would the man continue to use this way when the price was a human life? He was greedy, plain and simple. Most nights the trips were uneventful and if he couldn’t find someone to give to the monsters he simply waited until first light. That and he was paid to bring an extra along. It kept the third creature in check to have near regular tastes of human blood until it learned some restraint. Even if that day came during his lifetime the man would always bring a spare.  
“Priest, c’mere.”  
Hesitantly the young man approached, clutching a wooden cross in one hand. Seemed a shame to send a man of the cloth to be killed by demons.  
“See that post there? I need ya to hang this lantern there, beasts here is attracted to campfires, it’ll confuse ‘em long enough for us to get out.”  
“Why can’t you go? Aren’t we paying you to lead us through?”  
“Aye, but I need t’stay to keep the horse from bolting.”  
“Well couldn’t I-?”  
“All ya scared like rabbits, ain’t in no mind to keep him calm.”  
Reluctantly the priest took the lantern. “I thought you said never to step off the path?”  
“Unless I tell ya otherwise, mentioned that part too. Now get on with it so we can move on.”  
Once the priest stepped off the path the old man climbed into the seat at the front of his cart, once the lantern was on the hook he urged the horse into a run. It was a straight shot to the other end so there was no need to be on foot anymore, that and he wanted to put as much distance between the doomed man and himself as possible. There were yells from the others, yells that were quickly silenced by the blood curdling scream that ended abruptly. Slowing his horse he threatened to turn the others out should they repeat what they saw him do, saying it was the priest or the whole party. Only after they all nodded did he speed up. Better to serve a demon than suffer at his hands.  
 _The raven haired man restrained his larger friend at the sight of the old man handing the lantern to the priest._  
“You have to wait for him to put it on the hook remember? Patience my friend.”  
“I don’t see why we have to, s’not like it makes a difference.” A short man with red hair replied. His companion could tell he was as impatient as their tall friend.  
“Eddy please, we’re trying to teach him to control himself. You aren’t helping.” Angrily the short man bared his fangs and snarled. Cold grey eyes flashed red briefly. “There’s no need to get testy with me. This is all your own doing.”  
“Fuck you Double D.”  
“Why Eddy I do believe we agreed that part of our relationship ended quite a long ago.” Without allowing his companion time to respond he stepped out of the shadows as the cart sped away. A confused young man spun around, face pale at the sight of the man emerging from the darkness.  
A hat on his head kept the priest from seeing his face, something about this stranger screamed danger. However his body refused to move even as two more men with murderous looks flanked the first.  
It was the shortest that spoke first, “what the fuck? That old man picked a fucking priest! Little shit needs to learn some respect.”  
“Now, now Eddy is that any way to speak around a man of the lord? Let’s just be thankful for what we get.”  
“W-who are you?”  
The largest, a tall blonde with blood red eyes lunged at him only to be held back by the one that came out first.  
“Forgive me but that would be a very pointless question to answer given what’s about to happen. Our friend here has a hard time controlling himself but I’ll give you a moment to pray if you wish.”  
“I-I-“  
With a sigh the man let go of the blonde, “have a pleasant afterlife.”  
Seconds later two of the three vampires were feeding from the unfortunate priest. Ed had been overenthusiastic once again and blood was flowing from several wounds, well he’d eventually learn there’s more blood when you refrain from injuring your prey. He and the redhead were snarling at each other every now and then as they fed, drowning out the faint noises from the human. Soon they’d finish and put him out of his misery, either by smashing his head in or breaking his spine, depending on who did it. Meanwhile the third took the lantern down, blew out the flame, and left it on the path to be retrieved the following day. At least they’d made this arrangement with a greedy old man who kept his mouth shut as long as he was paid, it was easier to hide when Ed wasn’t running into a nearby village to massacre the residents and leaving his friends to take care of the survivors. That was why they’d been forced to leave their last home to become permanent residents at the chateau they had been using periodically.  
Dropping a bag with some gold coins next to the lantern, the man head the sick cracking of a skull being smashed in.  
“Eddy is it really necessary to do that? Couldn’t you snap his neck instead?”  
“Where’s the fun in that?”  
Rather than argue the raven haired man instructed the blonde to pick up the body. They’d dispose of it later. Really why the two were so violent to the humans was a mystery. He preferred not to kill humans, take a bit of blood from a willing donor and move on, but when it was necessary a quick twist of the head worked nicely. What was he going to do with these two? Ed was learning control rather slowly while Eddy was becoming more and more impulsive. Keeping them in line would be challenging should they ever band together, Ed was more fond of him than their short tempered leader so the chance of that happening was slim. However keeping them in line during their little ‘party’ filled him with dread, perhaps there should be a rule about no killing before the invitations were sent out. Or he could ask the old man for a cartful of friendless travelers a day or two before. 


End file.
